Quote:
Originally Posted by classhandicapper
Sonner or later a few of the horses Greatest Honour has been beating will make their way to NY or another circuit and we'll get a better line on the quality of those races. To me they look a below average, but I'm not buying they are quite as bad as the 89 winning Beyer figure for the Holy Bull and FOY suggest. That's telling me that Greatest Honour would have a tough time winning a lot of NW1 ALW races in NY, KY, and CA. These early 3yo stakes are often made up of impressive maiden winners and NW1 ALW horses, but they are usually the better ones. A couple of the horses look OK in non figure terms and he's clearly better than them.
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From my perspective/opinion - it's tough to do much with a speed figure or a future form of rivals.
I really place a significant weight on the track configuration of Gulfstream's 8.5f dirt races.
To the extent that I don't learn much about 'speed' from an effort like Greatest Honour's.
I can say that unless he improves, the place horse Drain the Clock isn't going to run much faster at a route. He had the trip which showcased his 'speed'. He basically ran a completely different race than Greatest Honour. The pace was nearly 'hot', and TimeformUS did an accurate job of rating it. Had this been at an unbiased track configuration, you would upgrade Drain the Clock's effort relative to Greatest Honour. It wasn't quite a red hot pace, and it was also Drain the Clock's preferred natural running style, and the race wasn't collapsing (although the leaders did 'hang' fairly significantly).
Greatest Honour, on the other hand had a unique task. His running style helps him in one respect, because it mitigates nearly all of the bias against having an outside post. If post did play any factor, that would be in limiting tactics of the ride. -Greatest Honour appears more tactical, than say a horse many fans have brought up in comparison; Honor Code. However, from post 8 at that configuration, you have no choice but to sit a patient trip.
What we learned or gained further reinforcement with Greatest Honour was that he can rate, and finish well at a route distance. While he was doing that specific task, and forced to ride within the track configuration, at an extremely patient trip in order to beat the dream trip that the
was having, we didn't get a chance to learn about his 'speed' ceiling. We'll see that another time.
He's obviously very good. Whether he's going to be able to catch a Baffert horse that races close to the pace, or a Brad Cox horse running a big effort, and whether it all translates to 10 furlongs is still unknown. But he's a good horse, and he certainly isn't slow. There is nothing to be concerned about, regarding this specific race's speed figure.
Of the runner ups - Papetu was surprisingly good. He could be a decent horse for lesser stakes or allowance.
Tarantino ran another solid effort. He's a very versatile horse who could compete in a weaker stake on turf or synthetic.
Prime Factor appears to need to regroup, and then try sprinting.
